Mercedes: 'That wasn't really the reason why we lost to Red Bull'

The last race of the year in Abu Dhabi did not go to Mercedes for a change. Max Verstappen ended his season in style and finished sixteen seconds ahead of the number two Valtteri Bottas.

The German car brand's strategist describes the run-up to Mercedes' engine problems in a YouTube video: "There were som issues with Perez in Bahrain, which caused him ultimately to stop. We also some awareness of issues with the engine of George [Russell, ed.] in Abu Dhabi".

As a precaution, the team changed some settings on the MGU-K. They only did that at certain times over the weekend.

Engine problems Mercedes not cause pole Verstappen

"To be clear, it didn't affect our fastest laps in qualifying," the British continued. "That was us pushing to the maximum. We simply weren't quick enough on the tires".

So there may be a golden edge to the pole lap at Verstappen and Red Bull. Mercedes said the engine problems weren't the cause of their loss: "Our performance wasn't dramatic. We lost around about a tenth per lap. It wasn't a system that we stopped using, we have only used it less than we would normally do".

Vowles concludes: "It's actually not the reason why we lost qualifying on Saturday or the race on Sunday. It was just a component of why perhaps Red Bull did pull away more than we would have liked".